Armed police deployed to Rotherham hotel after staff mistake paintball guns for real weapons
Armed police officers were called to a Rotherham hotel after staff mistakenly thought paintball guns were real firearms.
A number officers, including some from South Yorkshire Police’s armed response unit and dog handlers, were deployed to the Carlton Park Hotel on Moorgate Road, Moorgate, last Saturday night after staff raised the alarm.
Three Norfolk men, who were staying at the hotel while attending a paintballing event in Sheffield, were quizzed by officers after one of them opened his bedroom door to find armed officers with a gun trained on him.
After explaining that they were paintballers, officers laid out the trio’s gun collection on a hotel bed and posted a picture on Twitter, revealing that the operation took up 14 hours of officer time.
During the police operation, hotel guests were asked to remain in their rooms.
The men claimed they had informed staff at the hotel that they were attending a paintballing weekend and that their guns were kept in locked cases.
South Yorkshire Police said: “South Yorkshire Police were called at 10.06pm on Saturday, March 3 to reports of guns sighted in a hotel in Rotherham.
“Armed officers were deployed. The firearms were discovered to be paintball guns.”